Scientists have been baffled by a solar system-sized explosion. Its shape, which is very similar to a disc, challenges all they know about explosions in outer space.
Astronomers have observed the explosion from 180 million light-years away and found it to be much flatter than they thought.
Explosions are expected to be spherical like stars, but this explosion is flattest we have ever seen.
According to the study, the explosion was a rare Fast Blue Optical Transient. (FBOT) – also known as “the cow” among astronomers.
There have been only four other examples. Scientists are still not sure how they happen, but researchers believe the discovery may help solve a part of the puzzle.
According to the study, the explosion could have occurred because the star was surrounded by a dense disc or because of a failed supernova (the huge explosion at end the lives of some stars).
It is not clear how FBOT explosions happen, but the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society may help to answer some of these questions.
Dr. Justyn Maund, the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy’s lead author of the study, stated: Very little information is known about FBOT blasts – they don’t behave as exploding stars should. They are too bright and evolve too fast.
They are simply weird. This observation makes them even more bizarre.
Also Read: New source of water found in moon samples from China mission
We hope that this new discovery will shed some light on them. We never imagined that explosions could be so aspherical.
There are two possible explanations. One, the stars could have made a disc right before their deaths, and another is that the core of the star has collapsed to a black hole or neutron star, which then consumes the rest.
They used the Liverpool Telescope, located in La Palma in the Canary Islands to analyse the light. This allowed them to determine the shape of the explosion.
The data was used by the experts to reconstruct the 3D explosion shape. They were also able to map the blast’s edges, which allowed them to determine how flat it was.
Although the mirror of the Liverpool Telescope measures only 2.0m in diameter, astronomers were able reconstruct the shape and size of the explosion by studying the polarisation.